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It was a great weekend at IEM Katowice 2016, especially for Heroes of the Storm! We saw the best European teams clash for two spots in the Spring Global Championship.

The two European teams that will be going to South Korea are Dignitas and mYinsanity. Other notable European teams, like Virtus Pro and Fnatic (3rd-4th places) as well as Na’vi and Team Liquid, were left behind.

While both Dignitas and mYinsanity have qualified, it was Dignitas who took the 1st place and earned $25,000 USD, along with the right to skip the first group stage at the Spring Global Championship. Interestingly enough, Dignitas had lost by mYinsanity during the group stage. However, they managed to come out victorious out of the losers bracket and they also sweeped Fnatic during the semi-finals. Dignitas proceeded to sweep the finals against mYinsanity, too, proving why they are considered one of the best teams in the world.

The Spring Global Championship will take place at Seoul, South Korea on April 1st 2016. You can also read the results of the previous week’s NA Spring Regional here.

Lastly, head here if you are interested in the ESL Hearthstone Legendary Series tournament, that also took place this weekend in Katowice.

Season 3 will begin with the release of the Ragnaros patch next week. Several changes have been made to party sizes or placement matches and new rewards were announced!
Matchmaking or placement matches are tweaked every Season. In Season 3, you won't be able to queue for Ranked in a party. You will be able to do that in Team League. Most of the changes were discussed at BlizzCon.
Blizzard Entertainment
SEASON ROLL DATES
Season 3 will begin as soon as our next patch becomes available for download in each region throughout next week. Check the season start and end dates below to make sure you’re able to dive into the rankings as soon as the season rolls.
EVENT
DATE
Season 3 Start
Week of December 12*
Season 3 End
Week of March 13*
*Exact date may vary slightly by region.
SEASON 3 UPDATES
Party Size Changes for Hero and Team League
At BlizzCon this year, we mentioned a few party size adjustments that we’d like to try during a future season of ranked play. With the start of Season 3, we’ve decided to remove parties from Hero League and allow smaller party sizes to queue for Team League as a single-season trial. Here are the exact changes we’re going to make with the start of Season 3:
Hero League
Players can no longer queue for Hero League games in parties.
Team League
Parties containing two, three, or five players can now queue for Team League matches.
All players in two and three-player parties must be ranked within a single league of one another in order to queue for Team League. This rule works just like it did in Hero League during previous seasons.
Players in full parties can queue for Team League with any mixture of league rankings.
While players will need to have access to at least 14 Heroes in order to play Team League, there are still no minimum Hero level requirements in order to queue for Team League matches.
Team League will still utilize First Come, First Serve (FCFS) during Draft Mode, which means that parties of two and three players will need to coordinate effectively when drafting their Heroes.
Players who are currently silenced or penalized for leaving games early can no longer queue for Team League for the duration of their penalties.
Once again, these changes are intended as a trial run during Season 3, and may be reverted next season if we are not happy with how they affect ranked play overall. We’d love to read your thoughts on party sizes in ranked play once you’ve had the chance to play a few matches during the new season. Head to the official Heroes forums to let us know what you think.
League Distribution Adjustments
We keep a close eye on league distribution throughout each season of ranked play, and we’d like to make a couple of changes that will improve the overall health of the league system going forward. With the start of Season 3, the population sizes of Silver and Gold leagues will be adjusted so that each will contain a similar number of players. Additionally, we’re going to reduce the population size of Diamond by half in order to help preserve some of the prestige that comes along with brawling your way into the upper leagues. We’ll continue to monitor league sizes going forward, and can make further adjustments in future seasons as needed.
Placement Matches
In addition to everything we’ve mentioned so far, there will be 10 placement matches waiting for you on the other side of the season roll that you’ll need to play through in order to receive your initial ranking. To help ensure our ranked modes have the most accurate matchmaking information possible, we’re also going to reset placements for players who have not queued for ranked in a while.
If you didn’t finish at least 15 Team League games last season, but played a substantial number of Hero League games, and your Hero League MMR is significantly different from your Team League MMR, we will use your Hero League MMR for your initial Team League placements.
Hero League will work this way as well. If you didn't finish at least 15 Hero League games, we will use your Unranked Draft MMR or Quick Match MMR for initial placements, depending on which mode you played more of during the previous season.
We also plan to once again loosen the system’s certainty level in everyone’s skill rating, so it’ll be a little easier to move up or down through the rankings during your first few matches this season.
SEASON 3 REWARDS
Players who manage to brawl their way up through the leagues during Ranked Season 3 can claim a new portrait, mount, and gold rewards for their achievements in Hero and Team League. Take a look at everything that’s up for grabs this season!
Hero League Portraits

Team League Portraits

Elemental Stag Mount

Hero League Team League
League
Rewards
League
Rewards
Bronze
500 Gold
Bronze Hero League Portrait
Bronze
500 Gold
Elemental Stag Mount
Bronze Team League Portrait
Silver
750 Gold
Silver Hero League Portrait
Silver
750 Gold
Elemental Stag Mount
Silver Team League Portrait
Gold
1000 Gold
Gold Hero League Portrait
Gold
1000 Gold
Elemental Stag Mount
Gold Team League Portrait
Platinum
1250 Gold
Elemental Stag Mount
Platinum Hero League Portrait
Platinum
1250 Gold
Elemental Stag Mount
Platinum Team League Portrait
Diamond
1500 Gold
Elemental Stag Mount
Diamond Hero League Portrait
Diamond
1500 Gold
Elemental Stag Mount
Diamond Team League Portrait
Master
1750 Gold
Elemental Stag Mount
Epic Elemental Stag Mount
Master Hero League Portrait
Master
1750 Gold
Elemental Stag Mount
Epic Elemental Stag Mount
Master Team League Portrait
Grand Master
2000 Gold
Elemental Stag Mount
Epic Elemental Stag Mount
Grand Master Hero League Portrait
Grand Master
2000 Gold
Elemental Stag Mount
Epic Elemental Stag Mount
Grand Master Team League Portrait
In addition to everything we’ve mentioned so far, there will be 10 placement matches waiting for you on the other side of the season roll that you’ll need to play through in order to receive your initial ranking. We also plan to once again loosen the system’s certainty level in everyone’s skill rating, so it’ll be a little easier to move up or down through the rankings during your first few matches this season.
Good luck and have fun during Ranked Season 3!
(Source)

After Ghost Protocol, the newest Brawl is Garden Arena, a best-of-three Arena match featuring the Garden Terror and Shamblers.
If you complete the weekly quest objective, you will earn 1,000 Gold and a new Brawl portrait.
Blizzard Entertainment
Our newest Heroes Brawl mode is Garden Arena: a best-of-three Arena match featuring the Garden Terror and its Shamblers. Gather seeds and overrun the enemies’ core with the power of nature!

RULES:
Choose from one of three randomly selected Heroes before entering the Arena. Be quick about it though, you only have 30 seconds to choose!
Everyone will begin the round at level 10 and will be asked to choose a Heroic Ability. No other talents will be available.
During each round, slay the enemy team’s Heroes and capture Seeds from the Garden Terror and its Shamblers.
The first team to gather 100 Seeds wins the round!
The first team to win two rounds will claim victory!
REWARDS:
Complete three matches of Garden Arena to earn 1,000 Gold and the following portrait:
(Source)

People have been wondering why Dustin Browder has been so silent during last month. He's stepping down as the Game Director for Heroes of the Storm moving onto a new project whereas Alan Dabiri is stepping up for Browder.
Dustin Browder went by the name "Rock" on the official forums and this is his goodbye post!
Dustin Browder
Working at Blizzard is the coolest. Our leaders support us in making the most awesome games I have ever played. We are encouraged to take the time we need to make them awesome, and then to keep improving them for years after they go live. We sometimes get exciting chances to work on other projects, too. I’m going to take one of those chances to try something new at Blizzard.

This was not an easy choice to make. I still play Heroes five nights a week, and sitting in the bullpen surrounded by this team has been the most intensely creative experience of my career. But one thing that’s making this decision easier is knowing the future of Heroes is in the right hands.

Over the last few months, I have been transitioning my responsibilities to Alan Dabiri, a 20-year Blizzard veteran and a fellow Heroes of the Storm fanatic. In fact, since StarCraft entered the Nexus in September, the Heroes team has been releasing some of our best content to date all without my daily involvement and I’ve been thoroughly blown away with what they have delivered. For those who haven’t seen him on BlizzCon panels or doing interviews, Alan has had a hand in nearly every aspect of Heroes since the beginning, both in his role as our technical director and as part of the team’s collaborative development process. Alan is also a passionate member of the community, and he’s always in touch with what’s happening on Reddit, in our forums, and wherever you’re talking about Heroes. He’s been relentlessly working to make Heroes better for years, and I’m excited that he’ll be continuing to push the game forward as game director.

The Heroes of the Storm team is one of the best game teams I have ever had the honor of serving on. I cannot believe how much work and love went into turning what started as a tiny mod into the epic experience that it has become today. And the team just continues to pour their passion, dedication, and expertise into patches, updates, and awesome new game features. 2017 is going to be a huge year for Heroes of the Storm, with new Heroes, Battlegrounds, a massive progression update, improvements to our ladder and matchmaking systems, new social systems, new Brawls, and more.

I would like to say a special “Thank You” to everyone in the Heroes community who continues to support us and challenge us to make Heroes better, including everyone who has shared feedback with us on our forums, Reddit, esports sites, and strategy sites, and anyone who has ever sent me a Tweet. You’re the best, and your dedication and passion has made being part of the Heroes community and working on this game a blast.

While my day-to-day responsibilities might take me away from working on Heroes, I can guarantee I’ll always be watching Heroes esports, cheering on Alan and the dev team, and geeking out about the game. And if you’re looking for me, you can find me playing Ranged Assassin or Support in the Nexus.

- Dustin Browder
(Source)
Alan Dabiri the new Game Director, presented some big plans for the game in the Polygon interview.
Dabiri was a strong supporter of the concept which slowly became the newly-introduced Heroes Brawl Game Mode.